I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2690 

To amend the Trade Act of 1974 to provide adjustment assistance to farmers 

adversely affected by reduced exports resulting from tariffs imposed 

as retaliation for United States tariff increases, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 14, 2019 

Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend the Trade Act of 1974 to provide adjustment 

assistance to farmers adversely affected by reduced exports resulting from tariffs imposed as retaliation for 

United States tariff increases, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Trade Assistance for 

5 Farmers Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) In recognition that trade policy can result 

2 in disparate and disruptive changes to the economy, 

3 the Trade Adjustment Assistance program was en4 acted to help workers adversely impacted by the 

5 trade policy decisions of the Federal Government. 

6 (2) The Trump Administration has made clear 

7 that it intends to aggressively use Federal trade 

8 statutes, including section 232 of the Trade Expan9 sion Act of 1962 (19 U.S.C. 1862), section 301 of 

10 the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2411), and poten11 tially the International Emergency Economic Powers 

12 Act (Public Law 95–223), to increase tariffs on se13 lected imports. 

14 (3) Foreign countries affected by such tariff in15 creases have, as of the date of the enactment of this 

16 Act, already raised tariffs on United States agricul17 tural exports or have indicated that they intend to 

18 respond by raising tariffs on such agricultural ex19 ports. 

20 (4) Increased tariffs on such agricultural ex21 ports threaten to cost United States agricultural 

22 producers global market share and reduce the in23 come of producers of affected commodities. 

24 (5) Farmers adversely impacted by these effects 

25 deserve adjustment assistance. 


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1 SEC. 3. ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE FOR RETALIATORY TAR2 IFF INCREASES. 

3 Section 292(c) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 

4 2401a(c)) is amended— 

5 (1) by striking paragraphs (2) and (3); and 

6 (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(2) either— 

9 ‘‘(A) the volume of imports of articles like, 

10 or directly competitive with, the agricultural 

11 commodity produced by the group in the mar12 keting year with respect to which the group 

13 files the petition increased compared to the av14 erage volume of such imports during the 3 mar15 keting years preceding such marketing year; or 

16 ‘‘(B)(i) the volume of exports of the agri17 cultural commodity produced by the group in 

18 the marketing year with respect to which the 

19 group files the petition decreased compared to 

20 the average volume of such exports during the 

21 3 marketing years preceding such marketing 

22 year; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) the decrease in exports described in 

24 clause (i) resulted in whole or in part from tar25 iffs imposed on such exports by a foreign coun26 try in response to United States tariffs imposed 


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1 on imports from such country pursuant to ac2 tion taken under the authority of— 

3 ‘‘(I) section 232 of the Trade Expan4 sion Act of 1962 (19 U.S.C. 1862); 

5 ‘‘(II) section 301 of the Trade Act of 

6 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2411); or 

7 ‘‘(III) the International Emergency 

8 Economic Powers Act (Public Law 95– 

9 223); and 

10 ‘‘(3) the increase in imports under subpara11 graph (B)(i) or the decrease in exports under sub12 paragraph (B)(ii) contributed importantly to the de13 crease in the national average price, quantity of pro14 duction, or value of production of, or cash receipts 

15 for, the agricultural commodity, as described in 

16 paragraph (1).’’. 

Æ 


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